Sergio Perez reflects on gamble in F1 British GP which went wrong amid continuous struggle, as Christian Horner stresses on him having to step up.
Things are not going the way for Red Bull’s Perez at all. After his Q1 exit in F1 British GP, a strategy gamble in tricky conditions more or less set him to finish outside the points with no chance of any recovery unless there was a red flag to re-jig the grid.
Amid the continuous struggle, the downfall for Perez already started on Saturday leaving him much to do on Sunday. The strategy gamble was a desperate move to get back into the Top 10, but it eventually led to further hole from where it was difficult to recover.
“We gambled a bit too early,” said Perez to media. “We were out probably for seven laps, completely cooked the intermediate. And then when the rain came, there was no tyre left and it was just a mess overall. Then we boxed again, we were in the middle of the leaders, very difficult to make any progress. And yeah, just not an easy afternoon.
“It was very, very close. I think we were just with our calls a couple of laps late, it’s a lot of seconds. But I guess at the same time, we had to gamble from the position we were, because we were looking for a few points or big points, so were gambled. There was no luck at all.
“And it’s good that there is a bit of a break so that we can step back a bit and regroup as a team. At the time, it was a close call definitely but it stopped raining, so Sector 1, it was completely dry, you cook the intermediate and it stopped raining for seven laps and when the rain came, it was just a little bit too late,” summed up Perez.
The last six races has been difficult for Perez where he has just scored the 15 points and just the 11 in the triple-header. A one week break comes at the best time for him especially with all the rumours about getting replaced mid-season.
“I think it’s a good time to have a bit of a break and get back to our form hopefully for Hungary and Belgium, two very important weekends,” said Perez. “I think looking back at it, we had the strongest Friday in a while. So I think there’s some light out of the tunnel. At the same time, it is a very disappointing race but I am also aware that how much we can consider this race.
“Other than that, we have to just make sure that we are in the ballpark with the balance, try to make the progression we need for Fridays and things will be a lot better. And I know where I am in terms of contract and that sort of thing. But I cannot let it be a distraction. I need to focus on the next two weekends, which are the priority. And together with the team, as a team, to get out of this difficult period,” summed up Perez.
Team boss Horner, meanwhile, was quite vocal about the situation with Perez and needing the Mexican to step up amid the fight from McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari. While expanding on his race, he also discussed about the potential replacement.
With Liam Lawson expected to test the Red Bull car this week, Horner didn’t readily accept it is a trial but noted that such pressure is common to happen in F1 and even Perez knows it. The Brit also stated about the apparent floor difference to Max Verstappen.
Lawson situation, Perez weekend –
Horner: “The thing is that if you read too much into these things, I’m actually doing a lap of Silverstone in the RB8 on Thursday as well, so you never know. In all seriousness, the Liam aero run has been planned for a couple of months now. Of course, Sergio Perez…of course he’s under pressure. That’s normal in Formula 1, and when you’re under delivering, that pressure only mounts. He’s aware of that, he knows that and this weekend just hasn’t…nothing has gone his way. We took a gamble in the race.
“Checo started on the hard tyre. He was making decent progress early on in the race. The rain started to arrive, he was P16 at the time, you roll the dice a little at that time as Ferrari did with Leclerc. He went onto the inter and if the rain had of picked up, he’d have looked a hero. It didn’t, so you don’t. Then Sergio had that extra stop and the time loss of being on an inter on a drying track was hemorrhaging a lot of time for him. Obviously, a lot to look at from over the weekend.”
Floor difference –
Horner: “There was only one floor available on one side of the garaged this weekend, but as he (Helmut Marko) has pointed out, there was only a minimal upgrade, which he will have for Budapest.”
Vocal about frustration, need outside help –
Horner: “Of course there is frustration when both of your cars aren’t performing collectively. It is frustrating to lose Checo in Q1 yesterday. He missed FP1 because of Isack Hadjar driving, he had a decent FP2, we felt that he should’ve been around the top six, then to lose that car in Q1 was very frustrating. That’s where we are at. Every driver is different. Some drivers need an arm around their shoulder and some need a kick up the arse and sometimes it varies from week to week.”
His need in constructors’ fight –
Horner: “He knows it’s unsustainable to not be scoring points. We have to e scoring points in that car and he knows that. He knows his role and his target, so nobody is more eager than Checo to find his form again. They [McLaren] have, they took seven points out of us. It is something we are acutely aware of and to win the constructors’ championship you need both cars scoring.”
Here’s Max Verstappen, Christian Horner on recovering to P2
Here’s how F1 British GP panned out
Here’s first look at F1 movie + say from Lewis Hamilton
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact
